Simple Rustic Bread With Walnuts

PanNan's Note:

I love fresh bread, but complicated recipes that require 10 minutes of kneading aren't for me. This recipe couldn't be simpler. It's wonderful dipped in an olive oil dipping sauce, or also with fresh creamy chicken salad. It's adapted from a recipe in Flexible Fare by Sandra Rudloff. The prep time includes rising times. Note to World Tour participants - great artisan breads and walnut production are reminiscent of California. This recipe represents the Western U.S.

• Total Time: 3 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
• Cook Time: 40 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 2 loaves

• 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 package)
• 2 cups warm water (105 - 115 degrees)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 cups bread flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, sprinkle yeast over 1/2 cup of warm water and let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Stir to dissolve yeast.
3. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups water, sugar, salt and bread flour.
4. Mix at low speed until flour is thoroughly incorporated.
5. Note: dough will be sticky, not smooth.
6. Place dough in a large oiled bowl and turn to coat all sides with oil.
7. Cover loosely with a towel and set in a warm place to rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
8. Punch dough down.
9. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface, add walnuts, and knead lightly to eliminate air bubbles.
10. Cut dough into 2 pieces.
11. With floured hands, shape each piece into a 12-inch log.
12. Place logs on a parchment paper lined baking sheet a few inches apart and cover loosely with a towel.
13. Let rise for 30 minutes.
14. Meanwhile place pizza stone on lowest rack in oven.
15. When dough begins last rise, preheat oven to 400.
16. Pull the parchment paper off the baking sheet and transfer to the pizza stone.
17. (Or just bake on the baking sheet if you don't have a pizza stone.) Bake bread for about 40 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when tapped.
18. Cool on a rack.

Reviews

[Hey Jude]

This easy, simple recipe produced 2 loaves of lovely bread....deliciously crunchy on the outside, perfectly soft on the inside. I can't stop eating it! Thanks PanNan for the great recipe, it's a keeper!

[tyk]

i have not been able to make successful, chewy, delicious bread. EVER. and i've been making an effort to really do so these last few months. and today, perhaps with a low pressure system overhead, my bread rose amazingly and turned into a beautiful loaf in the oven (and one lumpy not-so-pretty one). this is the first time i've ever had the first, second, and oven-spring perfect (i've done a lot of research on the internet). i kneaded it by hand since i don't own a mixer. also, i put a pan of hot water in the oven while it was preheating to make sure i had a crispy crust. it started to darken about 20 minutes into baking, so i had to cover it with foil. when i took it out after about... 37 minutes, it was hard like a log and i was afraid i had over-baked it. but when i cut into it, the inside was still beautiful and i'm so proud.

[glitzypursegirl]

Great easy recipe, with two loaves, i liked it best toasted since that brought out the nutty flavor more, and the flour i used was an unbleached white bread flour, next time I will try wheat flour....this was a little wonder white soft for the texture of bread, thanks for sharing this super recipe!